


Feel You're There

by orphan_account



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Egobang - Freeform, M/M, ghost au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-22
Updated: 2015-04-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 15:07:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3213629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a Tumblr post, in which Dan is a ghost.  People come and go, never able to see Dan but affected by his presence.  He exists in loneliness, until someone comes into his afterlife that brightens up his world… and doesn’t run when he discovers Dan’s existence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

People never stayed very long in the studio. There was an eternal chill hanging in the rooms, even with the heater cranked high up and despite the aid of several thick blankets. Not that Dan could feel the cold, not anymore. Especially not when it was his very presence that seemed to cause it. No one could see him, but they felt as he approached, the goosebumps raising along their exposed skin and their breath fogged in the air.

How many people had come by to fix the heater? And how many of them puzzled over the perfect working condition only to find that it didn’t improve the temperature of the studio? There was no visible cause for the constant chill through the building.

No one could see Dan.

The corners of his lips were always turned down in a deep frown. Not that it mattered when there was no one to reassure him, or even acknowledge that it existed. He watched people come and go, never remaining for long before they moved on to another place. One that didn’t feel like a cloud of icy gloom constantly hung over the rooms.

“This place is perfect!”

The exclamation caught Dan by surprise. He was drifting aimlessly, trying to move little objects to pass the time, not really paying much attention to the people who had entered. Surely it was just the same thing—someone would rent the studio, lured by the ridiculously cheap price, until the atmosphere drove them out again. He hadn’t heard someone so enthusiastic to be here in a long time… or ever before for that matter.

“It’s fucking freezing in here, Arin,” said someone else, a slight accent detectable in his voice even as he whined out the words.

“They said that the rent is so cheap because it’s always so cold around here,” explained a third person—this one a woman. Dan found himself drifting toward the voices, drawn by the upbeat tones. The woman added, “Maybe it’s so cold because it’s haunted.”

There was a mix of laughter from two of them, joined by an indignant, “That isn’t funny, Suzy!” from the accented man. If only they knew just how close to the truth that this ‘Suzy’ was.

Dan followed them around as they toured the studio. From what he gathered, they were searching for a location for some show on a thing called ‘Youtube’, whatever that was. And as cheap as this one was, and how spacious, it was the perfect place for them. Arin, Suzy, and Ross were their names, and there was a fourth man named Barry in their group, though he hadn’t come with them to scope out the place.

Too bad. From what he heard, it sounded like Dan would have liked to meet this Barry.

Arin in particular was hilarious. He was always joking, making the other two forget all about the chill, saying things that Dan would never have dreamed of saying out loud when he had been alive. It had the ghost laughing for the first time in as long as he could remember, a sound that echoed eerily through the room.

“What? What was that?” Ross jumped, most visibly affected by Dan’s laughter. The ghost’s eyes widened. They’d heard that? He’d actually made a sound that living humans could hear?

“…Nothing. It was nothing.” Despite the reassuring tone in his voice, Arin’s eyes looked uncertain as he glanced around around the room for the source of the noise. Dan shivered as the man’s gaze passed through him.

Eventually the three wrapped up their tour and left, albeit a bit more unnerved than before. Dan felt a strange phantom ache in his chest as the door closed behind them. He found himself hoping that they would return to the studio, something he had never hoped for before.

—————————————————————————-

Ross was someone who was easily spooked, Dan discovered early on. All it took was a brush of a ghostly hand through his shoulder, or the slight rattle of a cup as Dan attempted poltergeist activity, and the man was sent practically fleeing the room he was in with his metaphorical tail between his legs. It was amusing to see, and even better it often made Arin burst into laughter. The sound sent shivers through Dan’s intangible being, and he was sure that if he were able to feel then the sound would send warmth coursing through him.

As it was, he just enjoyed occasionally messing with Ross and entertaining himself and Arin in that way.

What was it about Arin that had him so intrigued? Maybe it was his boisterous laugh, or his upbeat attitude, or all the jokes that brought a bubbly laugh to Dan’s lips. Perhaps it even had to do with the shivers that Dan got whenever his brown eyes settled just over where the ghost lingered. It was like the man was just on the border of seeing him, but then just missed him.

“Woah, did you feel that?”

Arin jumped, glancing around the room. Dan had tried to touch his shoulder, automatically attempting to console him after badly failing at the game that he and Ross were playing for their show—Steam Train, it was called—completely forgetting the fact that he couldn’t touch anything.

“Oh, so now you’re the one going crazy, huh? It isn’t me this time.” Although it was clear that Ross was poking fun at Arin, there was an underlying bitterness that Dan could detect. Doubtlessly from all the times that Arin made fun of Ross for being so spooked around the studio.

“Shut up.” There was no malice in Arin’s voice, despite his words. “You’re always freaking out about this place.”

“Come on, you feel it too! Don’t you hear that… whatever that sound is? And it’s so cold no matter what!”

Arin looked taken aback by the seriousness in Ross’s tone. He stopped playing the game, setting down the controller so that he could turn his full attention to the Australian. “You seriously think this place is haunted?” he asked, incredulous.

Ross crossed his arms, leaning back with a huff. “I don’t know dude. It’s creepy though! You can’t tell me it’s only in my head either. Something’s going on in here, I know it.”

At that, Arin didn’t respond. After a time of uncomfortable silence, he turned back to the TV and took up the controller again. He murmured a “cut that out, Barry” into the microphone and resumed the episode.

Dan let himself drift out of the room, giving the two some space. He blew it, he just knew he blew it. Now they were going to leave and Dan’s days would no longer be filled with the laughter that so got him through his days. He wouldn’t be able to take it if they left. For the first time since he died Dan actually felt happy, and now he’d screwed that all up.

When the lights turned off and the door was closed that night, Dan was certain that was the final time he’d see Arin.

———————————————————

He was wrong.

The very next morning while Dan was staring out the window, he heard the door open. Surprised, the ghost rushed over to the entrance to find Arin coming in, something clutched in his hands. Dan furrowed his eyebrows. Not only had he not expected any of them to return, but it was also one of the days where no one came in for work. And Arin was alone.

Intrigued, Dan followed Arin into the recording room—the Grump Space it had been dubbed. Arin set the object down in the middle of the room, on the floor, quickly setting it up. Even though he’d never seen one in person before, Dan recognized it as a Ouija Board.

Was… was Arin trying to contact him?

The man’s hands rested on the board, and he spoke with a hesitant voice. “Is there… anyone here?”

He was indeed trying to contact Dan. There was definite disbelief threaded through his words as he spoke up, but the attempt was there.

Dan could feel something leap in his chest. Willing every bit of power that he could, he moved the marker to indicate “yes”.

The movement alone caused Arin’s eyes to widen, and Dan could swear that the man had stopped breathing completely. Nerves raked angry claws over Dan; he feared that Arin would run away now that there was confirmation that the studio was actually haunted.

But he didn’t run. Instead, Arin asked, “Who are you?”

“Dan,” he spelled out. There was a moment and then he continued with, “Nice to meet you.”

It took a little bit for Arin to decipher what he’d spelled out. When he finally did, Arin raised an eyebrow. “You’re polite for a ghost,” he said.

Dan shrugged, but Arin couldn’t see that, so he replied with, “What is that supposed to mean?”

Again silence. The Ouija Board didn’t make much for effective communication, but it was the best that they had he supposed. Arin shrugged. “I don’t know. Never got a chance to talk to a ghost before.”

“I have never had the chance to talk with a living person either.”

Although there was no way for Arin to know exactly where Dan was, nor could he see the dejected look on the ghost’s face, he found Arin’s eyes on him anyway. They were filled with sympathy and a sadness that mirrored his own. “Sorry, man.”

“Do not be.” Too bad there was no way to spell out contractions. Full words took even longer to communicate. “I am glad we can talk now.”

Time seemed to fly by from there. Arin remained there, kneeling on the floor of the Grump Room, asking all sorts of questions and answering a few of Dan’s own. Dan could feel himself glowing after making Arin burst into laughter with the first few swear words that he spelled out, not expecting such words from a ghost. Just the man’s laughter was enough to get Dan laughing right along with him.

Initially, the sound caused a fearful look to cross Arin’s features, as if afraid of some retaliation from the ghost. Dan was quick to reassure him that it was only his laughter. The explanation changed Arin’s expression to one of bewilderment, but at least he didn’t look as if he was going to run away.

Some time had passed when Arin’s stomach growled loudly, breaking the relative silence of the room. Both of them looked down, startled by the sound, and Arin chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.

“I guess I should probably go now.”

Dan felt a little flutter of panic, and the marker moved with a marked franticness as he spelled out, “Will you come back?”

“Of course I will, don’t worry. I just need to go get something to eat,” Arin assured him.

Oh right, Arin was still alive. Although they could speak now with the help of the Ouija Board, there were still things that Arin had to do, and there were places that he would go where Dan could not. Loneliness filled him as he slowly moved the marker over to “goodbye”.

If only he were alive right now, and he could reach out and touch him. All he could do was pass a hand over Arin’s cheek. Even though the proximity made him shiver, Arin didn’t pull away.

“Goodbye, Dan.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I didn't plan to continue it, but I got the sudden inspiration for it. So here we are now!

Although Arin had promised to return, Dan couldn’t help but feel that little bit of paranoia worming its way through him. He just couldn’t fathom why the man would come back. Why would he? This was just a cheap studio that was eternally freezing and had a ghost haunting it for reasons that Dan himself didn’t know. Any rational person would be out of that situation in five seconds.

Apparently Arin wasn’t just any rational person, because in just a short while—about two hours, the clock on the wall told Dan it was—the opening door announced the return of the man.

Dan felt his entire being brighten up, especially hearing the faint sound of Arin’s voice from the entrance. He flew off in his direction with haste, excited to see the other once again. Another voice froze him midair, however. Arin had brought along someone else. A priest? Was Arin going to try and expel Dan from the studio? Is that the real reason why Arin had left so suddenly, and lunch had been just an excuse to escape the ghost?

Fear and dread dug their sharp claws into Dan’s chest. If he still had a beating heart, it would have stopped by now with the breath that froze in his lungs. A sense of betrayal grew in him, like a hard lump in his throat.

“Ok we’re here. Are you going to tell me what’s got you all excited now?”

Relief washed over him. It wasn’t a priest, that was Suzy’s voice. As far as the ghost knew, she didn’t have any special banishment powers. Arin hadn’t betrayed him after all.

He didn’t really believe in a god, but he found himself thanking whatever divine powers that be for having Arin not break his trust.

“I made a new friend, Suzy. He’s really cool, just wait until you meet him!” Arin’s voice was breathless with excitement, the sound making a funny little feeling dance in his chest.

The pair crossed into the room Dan had stopped in. A wide grin was split across Arin’s face, eyes dancing with delight as he ushered the woman through the studio. His happiness was contagious, and Dan could see in Suzy’s warm smile that she was affected by it just as much as the ghost was.

He couldn’t hardly believe his luck. Not only did Arin speak to him, and return after confirming that a ghost existed in the place, but he was actually happy to have made Dan’s acquaintance. It was hard to remember what physical warmth actually felt like, but the ghost was certain that it felt similar to this.

The three of them made their way into the room where the Ouija board still lay set up in the ‘Grump Room’. When Suzy shuffled in behind Arin and caught sight of it, she stopped in her tracks so abruptly that Dan accidentally flew right through her. She shivered violently at what no doubt felt like someone suddenly dumped a bucket of icy water over her head. Dan opened his mouth, about to apologize when he remembered that neither human could actually hear him. Immediately he snapped it shut again, lips twisting into a little frown.

Well, he supposed he could start apologizing when the two approached the Ouija board.

“What’s that doing here? Did you use it?” A flash of something—fear?—darted across the woman’s eyes. She looked around the room quickly, as if she could just feel someone like Dan hiding in the corners of the grump space.

Arin didn’t appear to share her concern. He shrugged, nonchalant as he replied, “Well yeah. I mean, Ross has been so spooked about something haunting us that I decided to borrow your Ouija board and check it out.”

“Are you out of your mind?” she exclaimed, the angry tone of her voice making Dan cringe more than the volume did, although the latter was substantial as well. “You’re going to end up inviting all sorts of malicious things into the studio, as well as whatever’s got Ross all freaked out!”

She was still working herself up, like a tidal wave of righteous fury, complete with stern hand motions and wide sweeping arms. All of which Arin stood in the face of unflinching. He didn’t think he was doing anything wrong, and refused to back down no matter how stupidly dangerous Suzy thought using the board was.

He let her talk herself out a bit before he made his counter-argument. “Listen, Suze, I know you think it’s totally stupid, but I promise that no evil spirits tried to attack me or anything. He was actually pretty cool. His name is Dan and I think you’d like him a lot!”

Suzy didn’t seem to be convinced, and they argued a bit more until she finally relented with a heavy sigh. “Fine, let’s meet this ghost. But I swear Arin, if you ever do this again without telling me first I’m going to straight up murder you.”

A delighted grin spread across Arin’s features, and without wasting a second he went over to the Ouija board and knelt beside it. “Hey Dan, you around?”

Part of him wanted to quip out something like ‘No, I went out for a walk, wanted to stretch my nonexistent legs a bit’ in response. Unfortunately spelling that out would take a little more time and effort than he’d like, and by the time the humans processed it, the reply would no longer be funny. So he settled for shifting the marker over to ‘Yes’.

As the marker began to move of its own volition, Suzy’s eyes grew wide. She leaned back, obviously disconcerted, but to her credit she didn’t run screaming from the room. “Woah.”

Arin grinned. “Hey man, how’s it going? You know about Suzy, right?”

Of course Dan knew about her. She was one of the people who frequented the studio. He jiggled the marker a bit, lifting it just a couple of millimeters off the board to drop it back down onto ‘Yes’ with a little clack. No reason to answer the ‘how’s it going’ question. He was still very much dead.

“Hey, um, Dan.” She paused briefly to remember the name Arin had told her. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, S-C-O…” Shit.

Silence fell over the grump room, three sets of eyes staring down at the board, where the marker still trembled over the last letter Dan had tried spelling out. Talk about horrible typos. After the ‘S’, none of the letters were even close to spelling out Suzy.

No, Dan could still save face here.

“…O-Z-E. Can I call you that?” he spelled out as quickly as he dared to, the visual equivalent of words tumbling from his mouth. “A nickname.”

Suzy burst into laughter, the sound like music on his long-dead ears. No one could see it, but a smile grew wide across the ghosts face, just brimming with barely-contained joy. Nailed it.

“Sure I guess. It’s longer to spell than ‘Suzy’, but whatever floats your boat, Dan.”

There was a smug look on Arin’s face, his eyes fixed on Suzy during her brief interaction with Dan. “See? Told you that you’d love him.”

These two were incredible. Arin was incredible, accepting him and bringing another friend into Dan’s life, when he’d had none since his death, and who knew whether he’d had any before that.

Surely even in life he wasn’t so lucky.

\------------------------------------------------

After that, Dan became an integrated part of the Grumps. Despite how upset Suzy had sounded initially, after talking with her and Arin for a while they’d built up a fast friendship. He was sad to see the two leave, but he no longer felt the nagging paranoia that they wouldn’t return. Of course they would, they were his friends.

Sure enough, they returned the next day, along with the others for work. And they came back the day after that, and the one after that, and so on. Dan became well-acquainted with the others, each of them very different from the other, but no less endearing to the ghost.

The most difficult to soothe was probably Ross. The young Australian was jumpy, and obviously did not deal well with ghosts. Ironically, Dan related to that pretty well. If he wasn’t a ghost himself, he was pretty sure that he’d be scared out of his mind to know that a legitimate spirit was haunting his workplace. So Dan toned it down with trying to spook him, and eventually Ross realized that Dan wasn’t actually the evil entity looking to murder them all that he thought the ghost was.

Once Ross got over his fear of the spirit, Dan learned how mischievous the young man could be. Sometimes a quiet, uneventful day would be slipping by, everyone wrapped up in their own thing, when suddenly Ross would mutter out, “Hey Dan, you there?”

When he jiggled whatever nearby object, a grin that promised trouble grew across Ross’s face, and he’d tell Dan whatever bit of mischief he had thought up in his boredom. Sometimes it involved draining power from electronics, like one time Dan ran his hands through Barry’s phone until the battery drained and the device turned off. Both Ross and Dan had been in fits of laughter, while Barry was not so amused. Another time Suzy had been about to pour herself a glass of juice, and at Ross’s request Dan carefully slid the glass just out of reach, so that when she poured it the liquid would end up all over the table and floor.

Or at least it would have, if Suzy hadn’t been sharp-eyed enough to catch the mischief before she poured out the juice.

Then there were the Ouija board talks. After the first day, Suzy didn’t say much in disapproval of it. It was the only way that Dan could actually talk to the others, rather than trying desperately to communicate in other ways. Dan could get very creative with it, but it was much less effective. So he looked forward to the times where he could literally spell out all that he wanted to say.

Today it was Arin, Barry, and someone else that Dan didn’t recognize. Arin introduced him as Mark, who had a Youtube show of his own. Apparently he was excited to meet an actual ghost, and Dan was fairly excited to meet him as well.

“Can you, like, possess people to talk to them or something?” Barry asked, breaking a brief silence that had settled between them.

“Never tried it,” Dan admitted. He didn’t know how to begin. It wasn’t like there was a how-to-be-a-ghost guide that he got when he died.

Mark looked thoughtful. “Well, it’s sort of like how you use a Ouija board to call in spirits… right?” he offered helpfully. “You’ve got to be receptive to them.”

“We’re already receptive to Dan, and he hasn’t taken over our bodies at all,” Arin pointed out.

“But I mean, not like welcoming-receptive… but sort of… you know what I mean?” Mark wasn’t having an easy time with his words, and the erratic hand motions he was making didn’t help much either.

Luckily, Barry somehow seemed to understand what he was saying. A good thing too, because both Arin and Dan were at a loss. “No, I get it. It makes sense. We’ve got to sort of let down our guards so that Dan can come inside us and take over—not like that,” he added when Arin snickered.

“Alright then, let’s try it. You think you’re up for it, Dan?” Arin asked, making a wide sweeping glance around their small group, trying to catch the invisible spirit’s eyes.

Possession was a new thing. He’d never even considered taking control of a human being for his own use. It seemed all kinds of wrong, and he felt a bit dirty just thinking about doing it.

But these three were giving him consent to do it. So he sucked in a deep breath that he didn’t need and shifted the marker over to ‘Yes’.

There was silence again, the living people apparently doing their best to be ‘inviting’ for the ghost to take over, eyes closed as if that would help. After a moment of deliberation, he decided that of the three, Mark would probably be the best choice. From what he could tell, the young man had an affinity for the occult. If any of them had a wide-open heart, it would probably be him.

Dan didn’t think too much about it, drifting close to Mark and letting instinct take over. His form dissolved into vapors, like silvery wisps of fog. Arin shifted, a little noise of surprise choked off in his throat. Did he notice Dan’s broken down form? Did he visibly manifest as the fog?

He didn’t give himself the time to ponder it, instead phasing into Mark’s body, settling in.

Shit! Dan pulled out quickly as pain seared through his entire being. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt such physical agony. The burn lasted even as he manifested his own form. Dan must have been mistaken to think that Mark was the easiest choice. So much for keeping his heart open and inviting for the ghost to enter.

Part of him wanted to give up after that one attempt. It burned so badly to be rejected from a body that he was reluctant to try again. As he waited for the searing pain to die down to unpleasant tingles through his incorporeal form, he decided on one more try. Barry was the one to suggest possession, so surely he’d be more open to the ghost.

Dan closed his eyes and grit his teeth. One more try.

When he next opened his eyes, he was staring directly at Arin. His heart lodged in his throat. He sucked in a deep breath that filled his lungs, his heart thumping wildly.

“Woah!” His voice was rough and strange to his own ears, no matter how familiar to the voice he was.

Arin’s eyes popped open at the utterance. “What is it, Barry?” he asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

Dan’s lips curled into a smile, shaking his head. “No, it’s Dan.”

The look of surprise on Arin’s face was priceless. “Seriously? It worked?” Everything in his tone said that he hadn’t thought that it’d work.

“Yeah, man. It’s me. It’s Dan.” He moved, knocking the marker and Ouija board askew as he leaned forward. The physical body felt heavy, but he reveled in it. It was like he suddenly got a second chance at life, if only a borrowed body. He was determined to make the most of it.

He reached out, laying a hand on Arin’s cheek. The other didn’t move away from his touch. He rubbed his hand over the stubble, biting his lip at the feeling. Strange emotions danced in his chest, drumming against his heart. It was unfamiliar, but Dan was pretty sure that he liked them.

“I can feel you.” His voice—Barry’s voice, rather—was barely above a whisper. He was afraid that this was somehow a cruel dream, and he’d awaken to find that none of this was real, not even his friendship with Arin.

Arin laid a hand over the one cupping his cheek. Under his touch, Dan could feel the beginnings of a smile tugging at his lips. “Yeah.”

Dan’s free hand curled into a fist. A rush of gratitude burst in his chest. This was all because of Arin. “Thank you so much, Arin.”

“I didn’t do anything, man, you don’t have to thank me,” Arin said, shrugging and leaning into his touch.

But he did. He did so much more for Dan than he could ever express properly. Dan could just kiss him, he was so grateful. He licked his lips, actually tempted to do it as well. Their faces were close enough. He could just lean forward and close the space between them.

Someone cleared their throat. Startled, Dan dropped his hand away and sat back again. He had completely forgotten about Mark. A glance at the younger man said that he was none too happy about being ignored like that. Oops.

“Sorry,” he apologized quickly. Hopefully the smile on Barry’s face looked apologetic enough. “I just got a bit excited.”

He hoped that they would be able to do this again. And maybe next time… next time he could… No, maybe he wouldn’t think about it. There was no guaranteeing that any of the humans would host him in their body. He couldn’t ask so much of them, not after this first very generous time.

Dan didn’t dare to push his luck even a centimeter farther.


	3. Chapter 3

“I still can’t believe you’d do something so stupid.”

Arin crossed his arms, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s just Danny. It’s not… it’s not like we’ve got all these horrible malevolent ghosts hanging around the Grump Space.”

Suzy mirrored his stance, but as he leaned back, unconcerned, she leaned forward, insistent. “But how can you know that, Arin? I told you a million times that you have to be careful with a Ouija board! It’s seriously dangerous!” After her finally exclamation, she swept her gaze around the room, unable to see Dan, but certain that he was around. “I mean, sorry Dan I know that you aren’t dangerous, but some entities are.”

They’d had this same conversation for a few days now, ever since Suzy had found out that they’d allowed Dan to possess one of them, and give him a chance to speak and feel as they do. While Arin brushed off her concern with a ‘well, nothing bad happened so it doesn’t matter’ sort of attitude, Suzy was determined to impress upon everyone how ridiculously dangerous their actions had been. Dan could see where she was coming from. When he was alive, ghosts were a big deal and no one in their right mind would be caught using a Ouija board, and gave anyone who did a wide berth. He wouldn’t have done any of what Arin did, if their situations were switched.

Dan looked from Suzy to Arin. He could still remember the warmth of the young man’s skin, and the scrape of stubble on his hands, and how soft and inviting his lips looked. How soft and inviting his lips still looked! He remembered the way his heart pounded from their proximity. Every part of his being regretted the fact that he hadn’t kissed him while he had the chance.

As if he felt Dan’s eyes on him, Arin glanced over in the ghost’s direction. Although he was invisible, Dan looked away, embarrassed to be caught staring even if Arin couldn’t have noticed.

“We’ll be more careful next time,” Arin relented finally, but Dan had the feeling that he was saying it just to soothe his friend, rather than actually taking her words to heart. “Sorry, Suze.”

Apparently reassured by Arin’s words, she nodded. “Alright. Please be careful, Arin, ok?” Her stern features softened with concern as she looked up at him.

“I will, Suze.”

\----------------------------------------------

A couple of weeks later, it was Arin and Barry in the Grump Space, the Ouija Board set up between them as they lounged around on the couch. Later they were going to record something, but for now they were hanging out with Dan.

Arin frowned down at his phone as he read whatever text message he’d just gotten. Before either Barry or Dan could ask what was going on, he spoke up. “Something’s up with Mark.”

“Why?” Dan spelled out as the same time as Barry asked, “Why do you say that?”

His eyes looked down first at the Ouija Board, and then up to meet Barry’s gaze. “I don’t know. He’s been sort of… you know, weird for a little while now. Ever since…” he trailed off, looking suddenly reluctant to continue.

Barry wasn’t about to let him drop it now that he’d brought it up, however. “Since…?” he prompted, raising an eyebrow.

Arin cleared his throat, but it didn’t help him stall for very long, and both the other man and the ghost waited expectantly for him to continue. “Ever since we let Dan possess one of us.”

A cold chill washed over Dan. He shifted the marker, beginning to spell out that he hadn’t possessed Mark, but when he had “D-I-D N-O” he stopped with a shudder of the marker the only visible sign of his hesitance.

Both humans picked up on it immediately, and he suddenly had two pairs of suspicious eyes on him. Hastily, Dan began to spell out his explanation, telling them how he had initially attempted to possess Mark, but something about him had caused him pain and rejected his presence. So he’d moved on to Barry instead.

As he recounted the experience, a deep frown overtook Arin’s expression. “He agreed to it though. I can’t see him hurting you and throwing you out like that,” he said, eyebrows furrowed in thought.

“Hey boys!” Suzy greeted them, poking her head into the Grump Space. “Not recording yet?” She glanced between the two of them; noticed their expressions. “Hey, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Arin gave her a quick rundown of their conversation, and what Dan had told them. A troubled look clouded her face, and Dan had the feeling that she was thinking about the exact argument that she and Arin had when he told her about Dan briefly possessing Barry.

“Do you think—when you guys made yourselves all open and vulnerable for Dan—do you think something else possessed Mark? Before Dan could even try it?” she asked.

They were all thinking exactly that.

Part of Dan was afraid that Suzy would say something along the lines of ‘I told you so’, but thankfully she refrained from that. The situation was already looking dark without any smugness coming into play. She fell silent, just as the other three did, deep in thought.

“Maybe we can like, pull the thing out of him? And like exorcise it or something?” Barry suggested after a long silence.

“How are we supposed to do that? It’s like, a ghost-demon-spirit thing, and we’re just a couple of people and a ghost,” Arin said.

Suzy brightened up suddenly, realization lighting up her eyes. She snapped her fingers. “No, I got it! We can totally do this!” When they all looked at her questioningly, she explained, “So, this demon got into Mark and pushed Dan back out, right? So that must mean that Dan can push it out as well! If he gets inside, at least. Then we can exorcise the demon—I’ll Google it. I’m sure there’s something reliable on there about demon shit.”

And as she spoke, Dan felt his spirits lift with hope. When she said it like that, it seemed like it was completely doable. But then he remembered the pain he’d felt the last time he tried, and that was when he immediately backed out of the other’s body.

“You know, that’s not a bad idea. Do you think you can do it, Dan?” Arin asked, looked down at the Ouija Board for the ghost’s response. The young man had so much faith in Dan’s abilities, when in reality he was just a lonely ghost who didn’t even know what a goddamn Youtube was. There was no way he could pull something like this off.

But he couldn’t just let Arin and the others down either.

“Yes.”

\--------------------------------------

They planned it out for a couple of days later. Arin and Suzy would be around, and Barry would be making sure that Ross didn’t come in and piss himself or something like that. Dan had the feeling that Barry just didn’t want to meet their new demon friend, but he didn’t really blame him. And someone did need to make sure Ross didn’t decide to come into the Grump Space and get in the way with his fear of the supernatural.

Arin invited Mark over, insisting on the other coming over. The idea was that the demon didn’t want to raise too much suspicion that it wasn’t Mark, even if the disguise wasn’t perfect. It worked, and ‘Mark’ agreed to come over to the Grump Space. When he came over, Arin let him in, trying not to look nervous as he shut the door behind them.

Then, with a shout, Arin tackled Mark to the ground.

Arin pinned Mark down, with his knees pressing down on the possessed man’s elbows, while Suzy held down his legs, preventing him from thrashing around and hurting the two of them. It was necessary. Still, Dan hesitated. The sight of Mark on the ground, struggling and letting out short shouts and screams, was uncomfortably familiar.

It was too easy to replace Mark with himself in his mind.

He hesitated, hanging back.

Memories were coming back to him—flashes of images and emotions that he’d long repressed during his time as a ghost. Most of it was woven inseparably with fear, and Dan felt as close to his blood freezing as a spirit could possibly get. He was pinned down, in his last moments, screaming and thrashing in the hold of two people. Terrified. Scared of being hurt. Scared to die. He joked a lot about being an old man, but he was still much too young to die.

He didn’t want to die.

“No, no, please don’t.” Half trapped in the memory, he whispered the words to himself. The humans couldn’t see his widened eyes, and how his hands had come up to grab fistfuls of his hair.

“Let go! Let me go!” came Mark’s snarl, but for a second it sounded like his own pleas. He hadn’t known who the people were, or why they hated him so badly as to kill him on the studio floor; all he could do was beg uselessly for his life.

“Shit!” Suzy’s yelp tore him from his thoughts. Mark had given a vicious kick, trying to buck her from his legs. If he got away, and Dan didn’t eject the demon that was possessing him, then there chance would be gone. Mark would be lost.

So with great force of will, he forced back the memories that still threatened to freeze him up. He had to do this. It was their only chance.

He shook himself and dove into Mark’s body.

It was like going through a wall of electricity. The other entity rejected him so soundly, and it was excruciating. Dan wanted to scream, but he had no mouth to scream with. He wanted to back out, get some relief from the pain. But he buckled down and forced himself further into the man’s consciousness. Something continued to push at him, trying to shove him out of the body. It was stronger, it had to be. An ancient demon would be used to possessing a human, while Dan had done it only once.

He was filled with a sudden rush of hopelessness. Why did he tell the others that he could do this? There was no way. He’d fail, and then both Suzy and Arin would be in danger because of him.

He couldn’t fail. He just couldn’t.

Dan threw himself harder into the struggle, wrestling with the entity inside the young man. Something else flickered, another presence, and another force threw itself into the fray. For a terrifying moment he thought that somehow another ghost had gotten in, taking advantage of their struggle for itself. But no, the presence joined Dan against the demon. Mark. It was Mark helping him, it had to be.

Then, suddenly, the entity was gone. It felt as if a giant weight suddenly lifted, almost making Dan stumble right out of the body. He could feel friendly gratitude—Mark silently thanking him for getting the demon out of his body—and then the presence withdrew. Allowing Dan to take over, for the time being. Dan hadn’t planned on it, but he was grateful for the opportunity.

His eyes flew open, a deep shuddering breath dragging through his lungs. He trembled barely even aware of the pain from Arin’s knees digging into his arms. The younger man swam into focus above him. Arin’s lips were pressed into a thin, determined line, his jaw clenched, but his eyes were brimming with concern—worry for his younger living friend, and worry for the ghost.

“Dan… Mark…? You guys alright?”

For a couple of seconds, Dan couldn’t answer him. He screwed his eyes shut, taking huge gulping breaths, trying not to sob aloud. His body shook, even though he was lying down.

“Guys? Mark? Dan?” Arin’s voice was more insistent, just the slightest shake of his words betraying how close to tears the other man was.

Dan forced his eyes open, and met Arin’s once again. The living man was looking at him so intently, and with such genuine concern that his breath caught in his chest. He couldn’t remember the last time that someone looked at him like that. With such love.

‘Love’? Where exactly did that word come from? A rush of heat burned in his cheeks, and he hoped that they didn’t look as red as they felt right now. Yet the word felt right somehow, even if it embarrassed him to admit it.

“Yeah,” he choked out, hoping that the ordeal they’d just been through would be enough excuse for how his voice sounded. “Yeah, I’m Dan. I’m alright. I’m fine now.”

A strange expression crossed over Arin’s face as he leaned down over Dan, mixed in with the relief that he’d expected to see, and for a few heart-pounding moments he thought that the other might kiss him. He couldn’t even explain why exactly he thought that, but everything in his body language suggested that Arin was mere seconds away from crushing his lips to Dan’s.

Until a short cough off to the side drew their attention, and the moment passed.

“Look Arin, I know you’ve got a total hard-on for Dan here, but I don’t think Mark will appreciate his friend pinning him down and having an intense makeout session with him.” Suzy was grinning teasingly as she said it, but Dan wondered if she was being serious under the guise of making fun of them. Either way, her words brought a hot flush of embarrassment to his face. Even more so when he realized that he probably wouldn’t mind something like that happening.

He glanced over, seeing that Suzy had leapt off of Mark’s legs (presumably when Dan had forced the demon from its vessel). There were various objects in her arms—for the exorcism, probably—but he didn’t really care about that. Her chest was heaving with the same mix of exhilaration and exhaustion that Dan felt through his entire being. He looked back up at Arin as the other man moved off of him, freeing up Dan’s arms and offering a helping hand up as he did so. Dan accepted it gratefully. It felt like his arms were actually going to fall off from the lack of blood circulation.

“That was insane,” he whispered in Mark’s deep voice, rubbing one of his sore arms. Poor Mark. At least when Dan left the body, he didn’t have to feel the physical effects of their brush with the demon.

“Tell me about it,” Arin replied in a murmur, leaning back on his hands.

“We can’t do this again,” Dan continued.

“Well of course not. This exorcism shit isn’t really my thing,” Arin said, trying to keep his voice light-hearted as he purposefully misinterpreted what the ghost was telling him. A small laugh slipped the younger man’s lips, mostly sarcastic and completely lacking humor.

Neither Dan nor Suzy laughed at that. He glanced over at her, and there was a trace of sadness there that told him that she understood exactly what he was getting at. Then he turned his gaze back to Arin. No jokes.

“No more possessions. No more… no more of this.” Dan took in a deep, shuddering breath, closing his eyes briefly. He didn’t want to continue, but he had to. This had to be done. “No more talking through the Ouija board. Nothing that might bridge the gap between mortal and supernatural.” After today, they couldn’t continue talking. Not with the danger of other malevolent spirits using what sparse connections that they had.

He opened his eyes again, and Arin’s gaze was full of understanding, but also of a deep sorrow. Like he was already mourning the loss of Dan, and the ghost almost wished that he could take it all back. But he couldn’t. Ghosts and the living weren’t meant to mix, no matter how much of a bond two of them might have.

“I know,” Arin said simply, sounding heartbroken as he did.

Dan tried to force every ounce of love and reassurance that he could manage into a single smile. He hoped that Arin knew how much the ghost cared for him—for all of his living friends, but for Arin in a special way that he’d never felt about anyone while he was alive. “Hey, don’t look so glum, man. I’ll see you again in just a few decades. I love you, Arin.”

And he left Mark’s body for good.


End file.
